Beginning Basketball – Basics – Team Defense

Aug

As a new season starts we explore how we at Frogs Basketball envision we assist in a player beginning basketball and the basics involved from a club perspective.

For many players and families starting out who may not have any basketball background it can be a daunting challenge on trying to understand what to look for in basketball program and how to set expectations in the first season or two. It is easy to over or under estimate the ability of your child and therefore place unnecessary pressure and unrealistic expectations on them. An experienced coach should be able to help you identify where your child is and help with an outline of fundamentals that they can begin to work on developing as a player.

Like any skills the correct repetition is required, some more than others, before establishing confidence in the skill to be able to utilize it in a pressure situation in a basketball game. During our Frogs Basketball training sessions for new and returning players we strive to teach basic basketball fundamentals via our drills that can be repeated at home in the drive way or backyard, at school or at the local park.

It is our hope that your child develops a passion to spend as much time as they can spare to become the best basketball player they can over time.

Team Defensive Basics

As explored in the previous article individual players firstly learn the fundamentals of how to correctly approach, contest and contain their direct opposition player in a 1 vs 1 situation. This is then taken to the next stage by having player understand team defensive principles including:

Help rotations using a ‘triangle’ principle along with defensive stance, footwork and ‘pistol’ technique.

Weak side defensive rotations playing along high and low split line.

Basket side positioning with an emphasis to collapse the paint to deny opposition offensive space and penetration.

Additional full / half court press with single and double coverage for key areas of the floor.

When successful team defensive basics are consistently applied with high intensity throughout the game it allows that team to control the tempo and pace of the game to their advantage.

Many basketball analysts have debated such inspirational and tactical statements coaches share with players and we at Frogs Basketball believe that “the best offense is a good defense” and it is true that “defense wins championships”.